The Dr Wu Lien-teh Society

I was debating with myself whether or not I should attend the inaugural meeting of the Dr Wu Lien-teh Society that had been called last Sunday by Anwar Fazal. Then I thought, what's the matter with me? I'm already in so deep in my quest to learn more about Wu Lien-teh that it would be wrong for me not to go and see what was going to happen at this meeting.

So at 10.45a.m. on Sunday, I stepped into the Penang Medical College in Sepoy Line and took the lift up to the top floor. It was early. The only ones there were Anwar Fazal and Alex Ooi. Alex is the president of the Old Frees' Association Singapore.

Hey, I called out to them, good morning. I think they were a bit surprised to see me but the moment passed quickly. "Are you representing anybody," Anwar Fazal inquired as we shook hands. "No, I'm representing myself," I replied. The question did not strike me as pertinent until much later when I saw the rest of the people trooping in.

Among them were representatives of the Penang Heritage Trust (Khoo Salma and Clement Liang), Penang Global Tourism (Ooi Geok Ling), the Penang Tourist Guides Association and what I believed to be the Penang Budget Hotels Associaton. Of course, there were also the representatives from the PMC itself, as they had graciously hosted the meeting, and The Old Frees' Association in the presence of MS Rajendren, the association's president. Only then did it strike me that the formation of this society might not exactly be meant for the general public's palate yet. But never mind, there were some other familiar faces who weren't representing any establishment too. I didn't consider myself intruding and I certainly wasn't alone. All in, there were about 20 people present.

At about 11.15a.m. the meeting was called to order by Anwar Fazal who went on to present the society's proposed constitution for discussion in detail and acceptance by consensus. That finished, the pro-tem committee was appointed.

Maybe I should point out here that those appointed to this committee were: Anwar Fazal (pro-tem president), Rajendren and Dr Abdul Rashid Khan (pro-tem vice-presidents), Dr Alex Ooi (pro-tem secretary-general), Khoo Soo Hay (pro-tem assistant secretary-general), Clement Liang (pro-tem treasurer) and for the five posts of pro-tem committee members, there were institutional representatives from the Penang Institute, Penang Global Tourism, Penang Medical College, and then there were Loke Gim Tay and I. The appointment was quite unexpected. I didn't expect to be in the committee and was surprised when Rajendren proposed my name. I think in the meantime, I'll prefer to hold this post on behalf of the OFA; they can fill in this seat at the first annual general meeting or earliest possible time.

Like I had mentioned earlier in facebook, there are five Old Frees in this pro-tem committee. This is only right seeing that Dr Wu Lien-teh was one of the Penang Free School's most illustrious sons. The Grand Old Lady has every reason to be proud of her alumni but among them, Wu Lien-teh (or Gnoh Lean Tuck as he was known during his schooldays) stood out as perhaps the most apolitical of them. As I pointed at the meeting, Wu Lien-teh was this country's one and only nominee for the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1935. The country should be very proud of him but unfortunately, his achievements have all but been forgotten. It is appropriate to honour him properly now.

There was also time at the meeting to discuss some proposed activities for the society but it wouldn't be right for me to reveal them at this stage.

The pro-tem committee of the Dr Wu Lien-teh Society. Seated, left to right, Clement, Rashid, Anwar Fazal, Rajendren, Alex, Khoo; standing, left to right, Loke, Penang Tourist Guides Association representative, Penang Medical College representative, Ooi Geok Ling of Penang Global Tourism, myself, Dr Wong from Penang Institute and Arthur who represented the Penang Budget Hotels Association.

Even the North Koreans are up there with the elite

Huh, I never thought that I'd see this happen but when I logged into the Internet this morning, one of the first pages that loaded in my browser was the medal standings after three rounds of the London Olympics.

It is still early days, of course, but who would have thought that among the top five countries is....North Korea with three gold medals! Two of them coming from weightlifting.

Wonderful achievements by these two athletes but they brought me some amusement when they said that their successes were owed to their country's past and present leaders.

First, Om Yun Choi gave all the credit to Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader who died last year: "How can any man possibly lift 168kg? I believe the great Kim Jong Il looked over me."

Then after the second weightlifting gold, Kim Un Guk gushed: "The secret is nothing but the support and encouragement from our supreme leader chairman Kim Jong Un, because he expects so much from all our athletes, and he expects the highest performance from all our athletes. That's the secret."

I suspect our own dear leader in Putrajaya does not expect the highest performance from our representatives in London because there are no medals yet.

Everbright madman

Now I know how it is like when people take shortcuts and depend on Google Translate to get words or sentences translated. I picked up the Mandarin text from a Kwong Wah Yit Poh report about last Friday's boorish demonstrations in George Town and pasted it into Google Translate, as I don't know Mandarin but I wanted to know what was written. To my surprise, Google Translate mucked it all up properly:

It dawns on me now how many people felt outraged to know our super-efficient government translator depended on this service to translate Teoh Beng Hock's purported "suicide note". It was so ridiculous. In the meantime, here's the full translation below of the Kwong Wah Yit Poh article, courtesy of Google Translate. If you can make head and tail out of it, please let me know because I can't!

(News Penang 1) 500 reputation as "anti-tyranny violent Lim Guan Eng" and "righteous" to "anti-Lim Guan Eng" and "anti-Net League 2.0 'to start the name of demonstrations, they marched to the Everbright Bank of Malaya When the police because they have to insist forcing the defense, the results of six people arrested by the police, those arrested included "Everbright madman," Abdul Ghani.

"Everbright Madman" Abdul Ghani to "Voice of Malaysian children" in the name of the organization, to lead about 500 people after prayers on Friday, gathering in the coconut foot street procession started about 3 km to the Everbright Bank of Malaya to memorandum was head of Penang Lim Guan Eng. They started in the coconut foot street parade, the police tried to stop their march, but the presence of a large number of police officers have been pushing the demonstrators to ignore the police to prevent any further forward towards progress.

In the procession on the road, they chanted "anti-violent Lim Guan Eng arbitrary" and distributed tomorrow at 9 am in Sungai Lai of a "violent anti-tyranny Lim Guan Eng" rally leaflets. Parade is also the portrait printed on Lim Guan Eng's "anti-tyranny violent Lim Guan Eng" posters onto the floor trampled, torn, burned; parade has 50 motorcycles before "escorting" campaign, which hit the motorcycle then jerk forward car flute pathfinder attention.

Procession started from the Sou foot street, through cow dry winter street, into the betel nut Road, then reverse walk name is Wang's (Bee Cheng Hiang meat shop front) arrived at the junction of Everbright Bank of Malaya. When they walk in reverse, also led to traffic chaos. With much attention to the procession, some passers-by questioned why the police do not take action?

When the procession arrived at Maybank, the police riot team has been stationed there, and warned them to disband and not across the room before the post office is located in the Everbright next line of defense. However, Abdul Ghani is still leading his men continue to move forward, to start immediately arrests the police arrested six people arrested included "Everbright madman," Abdul Ghani, "Voice of Malaysian children," Secretary Mo Xin et al. Confusion, there are protesters clash with reporters, someone tries to attack reporters.

With the police after the arrests started, the parade is to dissolve itself, coconut foot walk back street. To the deadline date, the police spokesman not to say something.

The Syed Kechik "400 million ringgit" problem....

There are not many people who can accummulate RM400 million in their lifetime. I think any person with this much amount of money in their pockets would have been placed on the list of the top 50 or top 100 richest people in the country.

So when news emerged that a very prominent retired politician and businessman had died two years ago and had left this much behind, it pricked up my ears. After all, busybody that I am, I'm always interested to know how people distribute their estate to the next-of-kin. In fact, I was more than doubly interested here because the deceased was a Muslim and according to the Syariah law, the Faraid would determine the proportions that his heirs should receive. The problem is, just as most non-Muslims do not bother about writing their Wills, Muslims also have a tendency to ignore their Wasiat. Muslims would normally say, "Ahh, we are governed by the Syariah, so let the Faraid determine the distribution for us." Unfortunately, they fail to realise that the Faraid only identifies the heirs and determines the proportion of distribution to them. They would still need an Executor or an Administrator to carry out the process of distribution properly. Leaving it to the heirs to sort it out among themselves is no solution at all. So writing a Will or a Wasiat is most helpful, if only to appoint someone as the personal representative when the person dies.

I do have a basic idea of the Syariah estate distribution process. In fact, I take pride that I understand much more than the next non-Muslim Man-In-the-Street. The subject can be quite fascinating. But to me as a non-Muslim, the Faraid is fraught with the most complex of calculations, full of equations and fractions, with classifications like Quranic heirs and non-Quranic heirs, and with the rule that male heirs getting twice as much as female heirs. Get the idea how complicated it is? It is no wonder then that many Muslims are also unsure of how the Faraid works for them in the distribution process.

Okay, that's all the lesson you will get from me this morning regarding the Muslim estate distribution process. What I really wanted to say that I was scanning today's print copy of The Star newspaper - the northern edition, that is - and was puzzled to find missing the story of the conclusion of the legal battle surrounding Syed Kechik Syed Mohamed Al-Bukhary's RM400 million estate. This wasn't even a legal tussle to determine distribution; it was just a court case to decide who could be appointed as the administrators to the estate.

For you see, Syed Kechik, for all his financial acumen and worldly outlook on life, had overlooked that his family could get embroiled in a murky legal battle once he was gone. He had a son from a first marriage that had ended in a divorce. He married a second time and was blessed with two daughters. It was of no surprise that the son could not get along with his step-mother and half-sisters, and that was where the battle line was drawn. The ladies wanted to be the only co-administrators of Syed Kechik's estate so as to continue with the father's big family business without interruption but the son wanted in as well to protect his own self-interest. The case went from the High Court right up till the Federal Court. And that's just to affirm that the four of them, Syed Kechik's heirs, would be equal co-administrators.

If anyone is interested, I have a summary of the long and complicated legal saga written here, with links to various news reports over the past two years.

It's not the end of the story though. The real test begins when the four of them - or rather, the lawyers for the four of them - sit down to work out the details of responsibility and distribution. There's already so much bad blood between the two sides. Can they ever agree to anything across the negotiation table?

Right, LOL...

Junk newspaper

Aiyoyo, finally, it's wonderful to know what a junk newspaper looks like. Not that I'm narrow-minded but I thought mainstream newspapers do not stoop so low. This newspaper stooped so low that they are scraping the bottom of the gutter. Perhaps that's how gutter journalism got its name. Ah, but maybe I'm wrong to think that this is a mainstream newspaper. Or maybe, the Home Affairs Ministry needs to come out with a new definition of "mainstream newspaper" and a new category of permits.

Whatever the case, if YouTube can yank a questionable video clip from its server on account of the video violating its own terms of service, aren't there similar codes of conduct for the print media to decide what's smut and what's not?

Oh, you mean YouTube's definition of pornography is too narrow to apply locally. What's good for a responsible YouTube is not good enough for an irresponsible Utusan, huh? Well, here's to Utusan then. May your future be forever stained with your new status as a junk newspaper.

Flying Penang to Macau, NOT

So it has finally come to it. Exactly two years and 29 days after the service was introduced, Air Asia has flown the last of the direct flights between Penang and Macau. They call it an indefinite suspension but that's just putting it diplomatically. The reality is that the flights are not attracting people and there is little money to make from flying between the two cities. So now, if anyone from Penang wants to go and put their money down on Macau's casino tables, they will have to go through Hong Kong. Well, that's life....

Scumbag politics

I hear that they are being investigated under the Penal Code for possession and distribution of obscene materials. I think they should also be investigated for blackmail, defamation, etc. So shameful, the dirty depths that some politicians are willing to descend to. I only hope that the Police and the Federal government have the guts to prosecute them and see through the prosecution till the end.

When I was barely into my teenaged years, my father mentioned once to me that I should always be careful about politicians and would-be politicians. "Politics," he said, "is a dirty business." At that time, I accepted his advice at face value without asking why. No reason why I should want to know more when I was just 13 or 14 years old.

But of course, we learn as we grow older. In this country, especially, we know why politics is a "dirty business." Politicians and would-be policians will stoop at nothing to destroy other people. I don't have any strong political leanings but I know injustice when I see it. And this episode ranks as one of the worst attempts at dirty politics. Crooks, they say, have a code of ethics. Unfortunately, not scumbag politicians. Not by a long shot.

Brainless twits

How utterly insensitive can Berita Harian be? Poking fun at other people's misery? Despite their apology, the damage has already been done.

Berita Harian shows its true colours with this brainless cartoon in the wake of the tragedy in Japan. Maybe the newspaper thinks that they are very clever but it just demonstrates the shallowness and mentality of the people behind the organisation. 

UMNO proudly claims that Berita Harian is their organ, their newspaper. Well, I suppose then that this cartoon also reflects their view. It's not only the newspaper that should apologise; the party behind the newspaper should also do so too. I'm disgusted.

Still interested?

"Nuclear energy is a reliable, high quality and cost effective supply of energy which is fundamental to attracting new investments as well as encouraging existing industries to expand into high value added activities."

I hope these words by Dr Mohd Zamzam bin Jaafar, CEO of the newly formed Malaysia Nuclear Power Corporation, do not come back to haunt him and the Malaysian government.

Every Malaysian citizen must voice out against the very idea of having any nuclear plant or rare earth processing facility in the country! 

A case of condom jacking

It seems that the Malaysian Police are investigating how a consignment of 726,000 condoms can disappear while on transit between a factory in Perak and it's ultimate destination in Japan. Maybe the transportation truck overturned on the North-South Expressway and people simply stopped their cars or motorcycles to scoop up the spilled cartons of condoms, yes? Just like what happened to the spilled coins on the expressway earlier?

Anyway, a news report last week said that Sagami Rubber Industries had loaded the shipment into a container at its Perak factory but that it was empty with the locks replaced when it arrived in Tokyo. “We are unhappy. This is the first time such a thing has happened since our Malaysian production started in 1997,” the factory manager said. Sagami’s head office has said that the condoms are worth RM4.5 million at Japanese retail prices.

Already, wisecrack remarks are being made about this incident. "The police will never solve this case: the villains have protection. They may even be hardened criminals." "This story gives a whole new meaning to 'taking precautions'." "Stringent controls should be enforced to prevent similar leakages from occurring." "I think they need to stiffen the penalty."

But where can the condoms actually go to? Perhaps, these few clues can help the condom police:

I hear that 12,500 pieces went into the making of this evening gown. No wonder I couldn't see any more purple ones in the pictures below.

The white ones are definitely almost gone now...

Don't worry, at least they are not totally red or totally yellow. Just half of each, which means there will be some leftovers of the reds and yellow.

Looks like there will be leftovers of the greens too since the leftover whites are used to fill in the blanks.

Surely, this can only be creative use of all the odds-and-ends coloured pieces? Never put them to waste if they can be recycled.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject on recycling, I came across this old story about recycled used condoms. As an ethnic Chinese who considers Malaysia home, I am embarrassed over the greedy antics of the Chinese in China. They are without any scruples. They will not stop at anything for profit of any kind with disregard to public health or decency. Tainted milk and tainted medicine. But using used condoms as hairbands? Now, that's a new low.

Ed Stafford makes a statement

It's all about the environment, see? If you haven't heard about Ed Stafford, now is the time to know. He is making a big, big environmental statement with a feat of incredible human endurance.

I've been following the blog of this man for some time now. No one has ever tried what he is attempting, which is to walk the whole length of the mighty Amazon River, the longest river in the world.

As I write this, Britton Ed Stafford is just hours away from completing a two-and-a-half year trek from one of the sources of the Amazon River high in the mountains of Peru, hacking through and surviving the virgin jungles of South America, to an anticipated arrival at the river's mouth opening out to the Atlantic Ocean at Maruda in Brazil, where he'll jump into the sea as a symbol of journey's end.

Do try and read Stafford's blog from start to finish here.

Anatoly Karpov in Malaysia

Anatoly Karpov, 12th world chess champion, made a courtesy call on Olympic Council of Malaysia president Tunku Imran ibni Almarhum Tuanku Ja'afarat the OCM office in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday. Karpov is challenging incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for the post of president of the World Chess Federation (Fide) this September and was making a whirlwind visit through several South-East Asian countries in an effort to raise support for his campaign. Accompanying him on his three-day stop in Malaysia was Richard Conn Jr who is the candidate for Fide deputy president.

In the evening. Karpov held a press conference at the Executive Club of the G Tower in Kuala Lumpur where he outlined his campaign. Also present were Dato Tan Chin Nam who sits on the Advisory Board of Karpov's campaign and Hamid Majid who is the candidate for Fide general-secretary. Later, he played two exhibition blitz games against 12-year-old Yeoh Li Tian and Malaysian international master Mas Hafizulhelmi.

Riddle of the black rain

On the day that my wife was born, it was reported in The Straits Times that "it rained with a difference at the village of Jemaluang, 13 miles from Mersing in Johore."

The villagers gasped with surprise when they found that the rain drops were black. Streams in the locality were filled to the banks with churning black water. No-one could explain the phenomenon. Samples of the black rain will be sent to Johore Bahru for examination.

The mystery was cleared up about two weeks later. According to the newspaper again, the Meteorological Department in Singapore had analysed a sample of the "black rain" water.

A Department spokesman said that the black sediment in the rain water was found to comprise "essentially vegetable debris, that is woody vessels, vegetable fibres or carbon soot." Its finding seems to settle a riddle and confirm a theory put forward recently by Prof. C. J. Eliezer, Dean of Science at the University of Malaya.

Prof. Eliezer was reported to have said that in his opinion, soot from a nearby fire had been blown in the direction of a rain-forming cloud. "As condensation took place, the soot particles dissolved into it forming black drops of rain," he added.

Four TV stars....dead

It has been a rather bad month for TV entertainment as these four stars of tremendously popular television shows in the 1960s to 1980s died within a spate of three weeks.

Peter Aurness (known professionally as Peter Graves) of the Mission Impossible television series from 1967 to 1973, in which he played the character of Jim Phelps, died on 14 March 2010; Robert Martin Culp of the I Spy television series from 1965 to 1968, playing Kelly Robinson, died on 24 March 2010; John Forsythe of the Dynasty television series from 1981 to 1989, playing the character of Blake Carrington, died on 1 April 2010; and Christopher Cazenove also of the Dynasty television series, playing the role of Ben Carrington, died on 7 April 2010.

Rockwills turns 15

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 (Bernama) -- Rockwills International Group, celebrated its 15th anniersary this year by adding another feather to its cap, a record 100,000 wills written.

Managing Director Saw Leong Aun said Rockwills had to overcome many hurdles before successfully emerging as the country's leading estate planning specialist, while playing a crucial role in helping Malaysians tackle wealth distribution.

"We were the first professional will-writing and will custody company in Malaysia and the pioneer in offering Chinese will-writing services in 2000. "Rockwills was also the first Malaysian will-writing company to record 100,000 wills," he said at a luncheon held in conjunction with Rockwills' anniversary here on Tuesday.

With more than 3,000 franchisees and over 100,000 clients at present, Rockwills' services cover will-writing, will custody, trust, offshore and other estate and financial planning support services, under a franchise system.

Saw said the company would continue to heighten awareness of comprehensive estate planning by organising activities such as talks and contributing informative articles to the media as well educate the public on the importance of wills and trusts.

"We are optimistic that with a growing awareness of the importance of estate planning, Rockwills will be able to continue the momentum and record a more dynamic growth. "This is not only for will-writing but also in comprehensive estate planning related services, making us the complete and independent professional estate planning group, " he added.

Garry Kasparov and the YES2009 summit

There's going to be a Youth Engagement Summit 2009 (YES2009) this Monday and Tuesday at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre and it will feature some very interesting and influential speakers from around the world.

I'm a bit excited about YES2009 because I've just got myself a ticket to attend this two-day event which will bring together about 500 youth from the South-East Asian region. Okay, so I do no longer qualify as a "Youth" but what the heck, you are as young as you think. If you believe you are young, then you are, and by golly, for this Summit, I sure believe that I am!

I'm excited because I'll get to listen to speakers such as Biz Stone who is the co-founder of Twitter.com, Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan, LiveAID organiser Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats, AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes and - I'm obviously savouring this - former world chess champion Garry Kasparov.

YES...Garry Kasparov is coming to town but it's not for chess. He'll be an invited speaker at YES2009 on the second day of the programme and he'll be talking about Strategic Thinking. Always, it's a subject that's right up his alley because strategic thinking had got him to where he is today: a successful and instantly recognisable icon even outside the chess world.

I wrote about Kasparov only two weeks ago when I reviewed his book, How Life Imitates Chess in The Star and now, he'll be here in Malaysia among us next week. The only damper is that his chess fans in the country will not get to meet him. Anyway, you can read this review here.

Party time

It's time to party hard in Penang.

The Hard Rock Hotel is set to open its doors in Batu Ferringhi this September. It'll be one of only 10 around the world. The others are in Bali, Pattaya, San Diego, Chicago, Biloxi, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Macau and Tampa. So these cities will keep Penang in very good company! Apart from the American-sized meals that we'd expect from the mainstay Hard Rock Cafe, we can now look forward to savour the Hard Rock hospitality business.

It's their first in Malaysia but it's not going to be cheap. I understand that the hotel's opening special package starts at RM368++ for a Hillview deluxe room and RM418++ for a Seaview deluxe room, valid between 19 Sep and 18 Dec 2009.

Hard Rock Hotel Penang (occupying the former Casuarina Hotel land beside the sea) will have 249 rooms and suites with unprecedented view of the hill and sea, and they are fully equipped with DVD/CD players, LCD TVs, iPod docking stations and WiFi connectivity. But there's no mention whether each room will come equipped with a sound system for a totally private audio-visual experience. I suppose not.

Foodies will definitely be spoilt for choice with five food and beverage outlets: the famous Hard Rock Cafe, all-day dining restaurant Starz Diner, the Pizzeria by the poolside, The Shack pool bar and at the Lobby Lounge.

Now, let's see whether this September, I can pick up an authentic Hard Rock Cafe Penang t-shirt...

Flying Penang to Macau

Not more than five minutes ago, I noticed on the AirAsia website that the low-cost airline has announced direct flights between Penang and Macau. Looks like there'll be three or four weekly flights between the two cities. Quick, visit AirAsia now to place your booking on the inaugural flight on 1 Mar 2009.

Is there a problem in the Middle East?

In another needless, wasteful demonstration of "might is right", there is fierce fighting again in the Middle East.

For more than a week now, Israel and Hamas have been shelling each other. And now, the latest news is that Israel has rolled into Gaza, a ground invasion, intent on ridding Hamas from the face of the earth. But it is impossible for Israel to annihilate Hamas or any of the other militant groups from any where on earth but especially over there, just as it is impossible for the militants to win. They may chip away at the Israeli state but they cannot hope to achieve anything. On the contrary, both sides are just sowing the seeds for more fighting and destruction in the Middle East where animosity, revenge, mistrust and conflict are the order of the day. Why can't they ever live as non-warring neighbours, let alone as good neighbours?

Here's a little anecdote I heard. Like all anecdotes, this is an interesting story but whether or not it really happened as narrated, you may need to investigate it further yourself:

During the Six Day War in 1967, Israel was fighting with Egypt, Syria and Jordan. In the midst of the war, a reporter asked former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan for his thoughts on the problem in the Middle East.

Without hesitation, Macmillan answered: "There is no problem in the Middle East."

Stunned, the reporter demanded: "What do you mean, 'There is no problem in the Middle East'? Don't you know there's a vicious war going on? Don't you realise that as we are speaking, bombs are falling from the sky, tanks are blowing each other up, and soldiers are being sprayed with bullets? Many people are dead or wounded. What do you mean, 'There is no problem in the Middle East'?"

Explained the experienced statesman: "Sir, a problem is something with a solution. There is no solution to the Middle East. Therefore it can't be a problem."